Former guerrilla commander nominated as Kosovo PM

The nominated replacement for Kosovo’s resigned prime minister is a former rebel force commander. Serbia calls it a provocation.

In the wake of the start of UN-sponsored talks on the status of Kosovo and the resignation on 1 March of Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi, a former guerrilla commander, 44-year-old Lt. Gen. Agim Ceku, has been asked to lead the province’s next government. At the head of the now disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, Ceku worked closely with the Croatian army during the war against the Serbs in the 1990s. Serbia has accused Ceku of committing war crimes against civilians. In 2002, Belgrade issued an Interpol warrant for Ceku’s arrest. 

The parliament of Kosovo is expected to meet in the coming days to approve a new coalition government. Kosumi said that “I am resigning in order to maintain the political stability of the Kosovo institutions, and because I am not supported by the parliamentary majority.” 

Reacting to Ceku’s nomination to the post by President Fatmir Sejdiu, Serbian officials have called it a provocation. “It shows that the ethnic Albanians have turned away from a possible compromise and toward a radical stand in the Kosovo talks,” Goran Bogdanovic, a member of the Serbian delegation to the UN talks said on Radio B-92. 

The current UN-sponsored talks aim to resolve the status of the province, which has been administered by the UN since 1999. Kosovo’s majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, while Serbia aims to keep at least some control over the province. The next round of talks is scheduled for 17 March in Vienna.

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